November 01, 2008 by Rick Wood

On September 25th the two major North American mission agency associations, CrossGlobal Link and The Mission Exchange presented Dr. Ralph Winter, renowned missiologist and founder of the U.S. Center for World Mission, with the 2008 Lifetime of Service Award at their joint meeting in Denver, Colorado. The award ceremony was part of the North American Mission Leaders Conference, co-sponsored by the two organizations.

Before an audience of more than 300 leaders from nearly 200 mission organizations, Christian colleges, and churches, the founder of the U.S. Center for World Mission (USCWM) in Pasadena, Calif. accepted the award that honored his lifetime of service to the cause of global mission. He was joined at this momentous event by his wife, Barbara, his four daughters and dozens of current and former staff members of the U.S. Center.

Winter was honored on the second night of the conference for his work as a mission educator, entrepreneur and paradigm pioneer for more than five decades. A video presentation produced by the USCWM for this event, chronicled for the conference delegates, Dr. Winter’s achievements over the span of his career.

In accepting the award, Winter spoke on the need to recover the “Kingdom Mission” vision that was a vital focus of previous generations of Evangelicals. Winter was awarded a bronze statue of two hands holding the globe. The USCWM also received an oil painting of Winter.

In addition to the USCWM, Winter was a central figure in founding the William Carey Library Publishers, William Carey International University and the course, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement.

Prior to founding the USCWM, Winter served as a missionary to a Mayan tribal group in Guatemala for ten years. Then he served on the faculty of the School of World Mission at Fuller Seminary for another ten years. In 1974, Winter gave a landmark presentation at a gathering of church and mission leaders convened by Billy Graham in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1974. The historic conference resulted in a major shift in perspective in the mission movement to a focus on unreached peoples.

Time magazine named Ralph Winter one of America’s 25 most influential Evangelicals in 2005, alongside Rick Warren, Billy and Franklin Graham, and James Dobson.

Winter and his wife continue to live and serve on the U.S. Center for World Mission campus in Pasadena, California.